London Design Festival 2014 highlights

‘Lose Yourself in Design’, is 2014’s London Design Festival slogan. Within these 9 days, exploring the streets of London, uncovering the unknown and celebrating Design for the 12th year in a row is the ‘cool thing to do’.

London Design Festival highlights

One of 2014’s highlights in terms of art and design, the London Design Festival (LDF), has imprinted its presence across the city streets. During this time, London has been celebrated as a creative hub for the international community. LDF is open to design-enthusiasts, newbies and for all those who like to pretend they know a thing or two about what’s actually going on. It’s an event where museums, galleries, concept stores and informative talks come together and engage visitors to become one with design.

The LDF challenges visitors to explore different design districts in the city (with the help of an app, of course) and engage with the fast-paced nature of the field in different areas. At the heart of the festival, the V&A, visitors were introduced to the juxtaposition of traditional surroundings and modern concepts: from rotating mirrors in the Raphael Gallery to Zaha Hadid’s wave-inspired installation emerging from the V&A’s pool.

One of the standout features of 2014’s LDF was the volume of brands and designers working together to explore new directions. An example of this is AirBnB and a variety of designers, including Ilse Crawford, Jasper Morrison, Paternnity and Raw Edges, who have come together to explore ‘A Place Called Home’: an installation in Trafalgar Square that depicted ideally designed living spaces and delves into the notion of public vs. private space.

No longer are design festivals about unilateral design, they are about shifting the perceptions of space: exposing timeless pieces to modern surroundings; encouraging brands and communities to discover themselves; and unsettle the ‘norm’ one step further. As Design trends are constantly evolving, it has become increasingly important for brands to be adaptable, dynamic, and intriguingly individual to challenge the position of competing brands and to stand out from the crowd.